In October this year, a friend of mine, Daniel, made me aware of that he would fly to Copenhagen in the beginning of December. Since I had no trips planned for the remainder of the year, but definitely needed a getaway, I told him that I would look into it and hopefully get a few days off from work. Initially, I intended to try to make use of SAS' last-minute youth fare. However, after Daniel had mentioned his positive experiences with travel website expedia, I decided to book flights right away so that I would be able to make my way to the capital of Denmark by any means.

The offer by expedia was simply convincing, both in terms of selection and fares (it does help to travel off season, after all). I could choose from a wide range of carriers and alliances, with SK's nonstop service from STR to CPH being by far the cheapest, but also the one with least convenient flight times. Eventually, I decided to fly Austrian Arrows via VIE on the inbound flights, as they had the latest departure of the day out of CPH. As for the outbound journey, I narrowed it down to either LX or LH. Since the layover in ZRH would have been far too short, I decided to fly LH (or rather, their regional affiliate Ausgburg Airways) via MUC, as it would also give me the opportunity to fly on new as well as tried and tested aircraft types.

Overview of my itinerary on Lufthansa's website

Although advertised differently in the title, I would like to mention that this trip report will focus on the Lufthansa flights. There are two reasons for this: The outbound journey was flown mostly in daylight, which is naturally better for photography, and involved a fairly long layover at Munich airport. Moreover, the battery of my camera went emtpy at CPH without prior notice or possibility to recharge. I'm sorry about this, I wish I could have taken more pictures myself, especially since I arrived at the airport earlier exactly for that purpose. Nevertheless, I will dedicate a few lines to my flights and the service on Austrian Arrows.

OUTBOUND

Fortunately, time went by quickly and I was on holiday by December 2nd. As I would arrive by public transport the next morning hardly one hour before scheduled departure time, I made the decision to use the late-night check-in offered by Lufthansa and several other carriers at Stuttgart airport. Although LH does not really promote this option, it is possible to completely check-in between 6 PM and 8 PM on the eve before departure for all flights leaving till 11 AM the next morning. The procedure turned out to be amazingly fast, also thanks to the competent ground staff. It took hardly five minutes to print out my boarding passes and drop my bag altogether. However, frequent announcements ask passengers to stay at the airport for a while after checking in and pay attention to possible baggage recheck annoucements.

LH Economy Class check-in counters. Those for Business and First Class are on the opposite side

Seen from below. Note the Christmas decoration on the pillars

Check-in machine

New style FIDS – now with airline logos and an enhanced structure

So far, I can definitely agree about London, Berlin and Munich

The next morning, I took the earliest possible suburban train to the airport, which is scheduled to arrive there at around 5:50 AM – too late for some of the earlier departures. Since I had not much leeway, I was relieved to see it operating on time. It is of course debatable if bag drop really takes too long to do it right before departure, but I must say I liked the thought of simply proceeding to the security check hassle-free. As the departure gate 162 had not changed since the day before, I located it quickly and waited for boarding.

Stuttgart Airport/Trade Fair suburban train underground station

The newly-installed transfer counter

The waiting area of exit 162

Generous newspaper offer

Ground level exit

Thermal paper with a great background design. But I hope these are actual employees and not random models

For those of you familiar with German geography, you will know that Stuttgart – Munich is a no-distance. Depending on the traffic situation, it is doable by car in approximately two to three hours. The ICE train completes the journey in less than two and a half hours, city center to city center, and is a lot cheaper than the flight on LH. Anyway, I was excited for this flight as I hadn't flown on a prop in a very long time and definitely wanted to add the Bombardier Q400 to my log as well. Boarding was called on time, every passenger was on site, so the Cobus could leave quickly for the apron position.

As the flight attendant at the door looked at my boarding pass, he said "to Rio". I replied, "would be nice". Outside it was +5° Celsius, cloudy and pitch dark. The interior of the aircraft was equipped with small greyish leather seats, which offered no recline and also showed their age. But for a short flight like this, they were agreeable, the more so as the legroom was quite good and I didn't have a seat neighbor.

Acceptable legroom

After a really bumpy taxi to runway 25, the aircraft skyrocketed – in the truest sense of the word. I wish I could have taken some pictures, but the sun still had not risen. So I was excited to see what the service would consist of on this very short flight. The two flight attendants sprang into action as soon as it was safe to do so, and distributed a full breakfast to the Business Class passengers. Everyone else received a drink and a muesli bar. In the meantime, the aircraft had already climbed to the cruise altitude. However, it didn't stay there for long, but more or less directly began its descent, which was accompanied by some basic flight information from the flight deck.

Black tea for me

On approach for runway 26R

A smooth landing marked the early arrival of this flight. The aircraft came to a final stop on the parking positions nearby terminal 1, which meant that a bus transfer to terminal 2 was needed.

The aircraft still sported the old logo of Augsburg Airways

Just entered the terminal after the bus transfer

Terminal 2 at Munich is a sizeable and modern facility. It handles both domestic/Schengen and international/non-Schengen flights. Most of the passengers from this flight seemed to have a connection in the same terminal. Since both terminals are geographically separated, I decided to confine my stay to terminal 2. Amenities offered by Lufthansa here for all passengers include newspapers and hot drinks.

One of many self-service bars in the terminal

"A [warmly-welcomed] service for our passengers"

The not exactly true to scale replica of the Allianz Arena is a good place to enjoy your drink in

MUC is one of the few airports worldwide to see B764 aircraft of both the sole operators, DL and UA-CO

I was literally only one click away from booking a flight on this Jumbolino

"Leipzig" seen after and before a long duty

The maple leaf carrier arriving after a transatlantic journey

SQ rushing to the active runway, bound for MAN. It would arrive there more than two hours late

The aircraft type I was about to fly on passing by under a rather threatening sky

I guess by now you have figured out what the big "M" stands for?

I settled down at gate G17 about one hour before scheduled departure time. Boarding was called without a proper annoucement (it sounded like "Copenhagen boarding"), but everybody seemed to have understood it. When choosing my flights to Copenhagen, I was excited to see that the second leg would be operated by an E-Jet. Having flown on KLM Cityhopper this past March, the Brazilian-built jets have become my preferred equipment for shorthaul flights.

I scanned my boarding pass myself using the "Quick Boarding" lane. It worked quite well and is most likely also possible using a cell phone displaying the QR code. There is still a gate agent present who checks boarding passes old school like and can provide assistance should there arise problems with the self service lane. Once again, the passengers had to be brought to an apron position. As the bus couldn't make a left turn where necessary, we had a nice circling around some LH mainline aircraft – which of course got me thinking if the equipment had just been upgauged to an Airbus.

...but to my relief it turned out to be the Embraer after all

The GE in inGEnious aircraft?

Even if from the wrong side, the sun had eventually come out

When I stepped onboard, I was pleasantly surprised by the cabin. The leather seats turned out to be very large, offering a lot of privacy and great comfort. Legroom was not exactly as good as on the Bombardier, but the distinct Embraer feeling certainly made up for that.

Soon after boarding had been completed, the safety information started, in default of overhead screens as usual by playback sound and manual demonstrations. Additionally, Captain Walter provided the passengers with a lot of details about the flight. What a nice welcome! We seemed to run a little behind schedule, but having already made my connection, that was not too much of a concern for me.

Finally taxiing out for runway 26R. British Airways and Air France can be seen in the distance

Lining up in what turned out to be a gorgeous morning... in Bavaria at least!

As my new camera is capable of filming videos, I decided to give it a try during the take off run and initial climbout.

Make sure to watch in High Definition and full screen

Seamlessly continued from the video: Executing a right turn after departure. Note the strobe light!

As foreshadowed by the video, the climbout was rather shaky. I wouldn't call it turbulence, but it was enough to make the Captain command the cabin crew back to their seats when they had already began with their service run. Soon thereafter though, he "released" them again. We then passed on to a relatively smooth flight.

Climbing...

...and cruising

Since this flight was a little longer than the one before, I was curious to see what we would be served this time. The flight attendants, all of whom were highly professional, distributed pre-packed "Laugenstangen" already filled with butter. I was offered two drinks, so I decided to have some water and Coke. Even a small dessert was given out. And to make the service complete, every passenger could have a cup of sparkling wine. There is no picture of it though, since I did not feel like drinking. I am not quite sure if this was a regular part of the service or a random courtesy by the cabin crew, however it was a nice touch by any means.

A very German snack

Inspired by airberlin – or vice versa?

Some more flight information followed from the First Officer, who was flying us that day. He mentioned that it would be rainy and windy in Copenhagen. Kind of an odd timing for the annoucement, since we were still flying overhead the clouds at that time, where the weather was nice as always...

…landed safely on the first attempt. Judging from the wind sock, we had a more or less a straight head wind

As soon as the aircraft had vacated the runway, it began to rain rather heavily, so I hoped we would block off at a gate rather than an apron position. Luckily, this would become the case. Upon deboarding, I was granted a quick look in the cockpit. We had arrived a little late and the pilots were already busy planning the flight back to MUC, so there was not much time for an extended conversation. What a pity, but I think we all can understand them.

SK A340-300 destined for Asia?

Shouldn't be too hard to figure out which airlines are shown here

Icelandair seen in rain while arriving at the gate

As this flight took place within the Schengen area, I could disembark directly into the terminal where I was free to move about. I knew Daniel's flight would come in later than mine, but I figured it would be better to retrieve my bag first. The baggage reclaim area was rather crowded, for the most part owed to the flights arriving from the Middle East. Not many people waited at the belt assigned for my flight, and not many bags made it onto there either. Mine did, which is of course always connected with a feeling of relief, but I did not have many doubts that it would not make it given my rather long connection time at MUC.

After leaving the secure area, I checked the screens for the incoming flights. Daniel's flight from FRA made it to CPH ahead of schedule, and we managed to meet each other shortly after. Unfortunately, he had to fly back home already a couple of hours later, but we still had a nice mini a.net meeting.

Still at the airport...

I continued my journey on the public transport, which made a good impression on me. The staff in the terminal was very helpful and the fares, even by the standards of other European countries, were rather inexpensive. I personally liked the regional train I rode on better than the ones in Germany. The metro was fine, too.

CONTINUED BELOW

'He resembled a pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified.' Joseph Conrad

I spent two days in Copenhagen. In my opinion, it is a city worth visiting – very modern, friendly people, good public transportation.

At "Kongens Nytorv" metro station waiting for the train bound for the airport

As of current, the Copenhagen Metro consists of two lines (M1 and M2). Both of them have their starting point in the western district of Vanløse and run towards and through the city center. Their shared tracks split after the station of Christianshavn, with the M1 continuing to Vestamager and the M2 to Copenhagen airport. An expansion of the existing system is already under construction and will feature two additional lines, circling the city center, with a scheduled opening in 2018.

Arriving at Kastrup station, obviously very close to the airport, with a view made possible by the driverless concept

CPH metro station

Terminal overview

I had decided to make my way to the airport as soon as possible in order to take pictures in daylight conditions (a plan which was later crushed for other reasons...), as night falls early up north. Once in the terminal, I checked in right away, so that I would not have to carry my bag around. Most Star Alliance carriers are served by Scandinavian Airlines, and so is Austrian. The process was similarly organized like the one in STR, with passengers printing out their boarding passes at the self-service machines first and then dropping their bags at the counters. I found the Scandinavian Airlines staff to be very helpful and courteous, rendering the check-in process quick and easy.

OS to VIE was not to be seen on the FIDS yet

The self-service machine

Just dropped my bag

Outside of terminal 3, enjoying the fresh air

The curbside of terminal 2

Lots of people checking in for flights to Doha, Dubai and beyond

Terminal 2 overview

As security did not take long at all, I was quickly airside. Unfortunately though, my camera's battery died unexpectedly, so I wasn't able to take any more pictures for the rest of the journey. That's too bad considering there were quite a few photo opportunities in good light conditions, most notably the Airbus A330 aircraft of Emirates and Qatar Airways leaving for the Middle East. The interior of the building is quite nice – I liked the wooden floors a lot. However, in some places it reminded me more of a shopping mall than an airport. I settled down by the B gates as I expected the Austrian flight to arrive at one of them. Once more, Lufthansa provided me with a free newspaper, as I happened to be at the right place at the right time. To be precise, right before boarding for one their flights to FRA started.

Going ahead...

It took an eternity until the departure gate, which turned out to be B1, was finally displayed on the screens. The aircraft came in a little late and boarding was delayed as well without any announcement. During boarding, I appreciated that the flight attendants did everything to ensure we could leave on time. This gave me some relief as I still had to make a rather tight connection after all.

Formerly in service with American Airlines, this particular airframe has had a fair share of airline usage. The cabin was equipped with cloth seats featuring an uncomfortable backrest in combination with a tight legroom. That was not good at all, but the scarcity value of the Fokker comes into play as well as Austrian's impressive service: The professional and cordial cabin crew distributed snackboxes which included two slices of pre-packed pumpernickel bread, cream cheese, sausages (no Vienna sausage, though ... sorry, this one had to be! ), bread sticks, and a Milka Tender chocolate bar for dessert. I had an apple juice to go along with it. After arrival, the aircraft came to a final stop at an apron position right by the Skylink terminal, which is still under construction as of now. As a result, all passengers were transferred to the arrivals by a fully-loaded bus.

Once in the terminal, I had to rush to the departure gate for STR as the flight was nearing boarding time. Much to my displeasure, I had to go through another security check before being allowed to continue.

Once again, the bus was extremely packed. I think it would be nice if more or larger buses were used when the loadfactor is high. Upon arrival in STR, we were also bussed to the terminal, but it did not feel nearly as cramped, obviously even with the same amount of people. As for the flight, we departed from runway 29 followed by the characteristic sharp left turn. The inflight service consisted of two drinks (coffee and water for me) and another Milka Tender bar. I couldn't ask for more on a flight of this duration. Interestingly, I spotted an OS Airbus A321 on the ramp at STR. It would have been too awesome had this been my ride that evening... oh well. The aircraft happened to be there because Austrian Airlines apparently operates charter flights on behalf of a company called "Fly Car GmbH" to Arvidsjaur (AJR) in Sweden via Hanover (HAJ) on the outbound and Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN) on the inbound. My guess is Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, both of which headquartered in Stuttgart, are testing their cars in the Lapland coldness.

The baggage reclaim area was fairly deserted at this hour. It appeared that only a couple of passengers from that flight did even have checked baggage. Mine didn't make it on the belt this time. I assume the layover time at VIE was simply too short. However, the good thing about flying Lufthansa (or Star Alliance for that matter) to STR is that they have their own office for lost luggage. You can enter it right from the reclaim area and have your report filed. In my opinion, an excellent and appreciable service compared to other airlines. There is even free coffee and tea as a small compensation, which I was still able to enjoy on the suburban train as the whole process did not take longer than two minutes. The next morning, my luggage was delivered to my home adress. Very good!

Conclusion

First of all, I would like to say that the most important thing for me on this trip was that everything worked out just fine. No major incidents, no critical delays – simply a smooth weekend trip including a meeting with a friend and fellow a.netter. I am happy to have spent a little more money on the flights as I felt it was really worth it, although they were just standard intra-European runs.

Lufthansa Regional: Flawless experience onboard Augsburg Airways. Inflight service is decent, and MUC will be a prime choice of mine for connecting flights in the future.

Austrian Arrows:: While the Fokker is not the most comfortable aircraft to fly on, I found Austrian's onboard offering was ahead of Lufthansa's. VIE didn't impress me too much, but then again, I didn't spend much time there. The Skylink terminal looks promising.

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment.

Best regards and Merry Christmas to you all,
Luftfahrer (Marius)
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detailed work and good to read. Always nice to follow STR report´s, you know.
Service on OS sounds really good, sure above average these days.
Also well done pictures, shame the camera doesn´t want to go for more.

Indeed. I haven't been very active on the entire forum. It has taken me almost three weeks to finish this TR... normally I'm faster but especially the last quarter of this year has just been very busy for me. I have been reading a lot of great reports on and off, and I will try to make time to leave a comment as soon as possible.

Very neat report with excellent photos. I loved the takeoff video on the E-Jet: either you have a steady hand or your camera has this excellent steadycam feature A couple of nice flights you had on LH's subsidiaries, my personal favorite being the E-Jet as well. They are excellent and comfortable planes for short haul operations.
And and a.net meet is always a bonus

CPH is for sure a nice city and a nice airport. I should really do a proper visit to that town again soon...
Nice to fly those Fokkers to and from VIE. I have really considered to fly those machines aswell.

Great report, thanks for sharing. It makes me look forward to my CPH trip in March (meeting Daniel there as well).
Sorry to hear about your battery dying in CPH. But stuff happens,...
LH and OS seem to have a decent product. However I flew on OS back in 2005 and was not so happy with the service.

I'm honestly not sure if this was real wood or just laminate, but it seemed to be of decent quality and made for a good atmosphere. It is also typcially nordic, which of course goes hand in hand with 'upscale'...

Quoting sultanils (Reply 8):either you have a steady hand or your camera has this excellent steadycam feature

Glad you liked the video. I personally thought it was not that steady? The air was a bit rough after take-off, though. Anyway, I don't want to take too much credit for my photo-videography skills, I owe a large part to the camera itself.

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 9):I should really do a proper visit to that town again soon...

I'm planning to visit more Scandinavian cities, like ARN, OSL, BGO etc.. But preferable when it's warmer outside. It was not that cold in Copenhagen, but the wind chill was pretty bad at times.

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 9):Nice to fly those Fokkers to and from VIE. I have really considered to fly those machines aswell.

Do it for the experience, not for the comfort. If you are seated in the back, you'll at least have a good sound.

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 9):the first flight is listed as "Operated by VO", and the second one "Operated by OS"

I noticed that as well. Really not sure about the background. It is a bit confusing by any means... Austrian Airlines flight number, Austrian Arrows written on the plane, actually operated by Tyrolean Airways . Similar situation with LH. I could tell some people were pretty confused by their conversations on the bus.

The companies don't like to make a big fuss about it though... I once saw a documentary on photographers trying to catch the newest car models and they were everything but welcomed up there. Flights are only bookable on request. I wonder if they would accept leisure travelers?

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 10):my CPH trip in March (meeting Daniel there as well)

I heard so.

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 10):However I flew on OS back in 2005 and was not so happy with the service.

Could you elaborate? I seriously consider flying them longhaul next time, probably in combination with SK. They had the cheapest option for STR-NRT on expedia, an itinerary which I just randomly checked.

Almost endless connections available on expedia. OS was a definite choide due to the flight times, would have liked to try LX as well. But I was completely satisfied with LH, solid service as expected.

Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 11):I have been at STR just a day after you, but I didn't even notice the Christmas deco there.

I was there when they were fitting it. IIRC that was in the end of November and looked like quite a lot of work!

Only water? That's really not as good as the full choice of drinks I got. I was also very impressed that the Business Class passengers received a full breakfast (pretty much the standard on LH, trying to find a sample picture).

'He resembled a pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified.' Joseph Conrad

Hi Marius !
thanks for the excellent trip report ...and for the whole opus ... very elegant and neat ...
I particularly enjoyed in presentation of STR airport ... LH is very familiar to me , so I can only shout
"I want Laugenstangen" ... I wish you all the best in 2012 and many happy landing ... stipica

First of all, though belated, Merry Christmas to you. It has been a while that I read a report of yours. What made it special was your mini A.net meeting with Daniel.

Quoting Luftfahrer (Thread starter): Although LH does not really promote this option, it is possible to completely check-in between 6 PM and 8 PM on the eve before departure for all flights leaving till 11 AM the next morning.

Quoting Luftfahrer (Thread starter): The flight attendants, all of whom were highly professional, distributed pre-packed "Laugenstangen" already filled with butter. I was offered two drinks, so I decided to have some water and Coke. Even a small dessert was given out. And to make the service complete, every passenger could have a cup of sparkling wine.

Wow, what an amazing service! Pity you declined the sparkling wine.

Quoting Luftfahrer (Reply 1):That's too bad considering there were quite a few photo opportunities in good light conditions, most notably the Airbus A330 aircraft of Emirates and Qatar Airways leaving for the Middle East.

I can imagine your feelings. I had to refrain from photography while being seated in front of BA cabin crew member Ruby on our flight to Malaga.

Thank you for sharing. By the way, do you know that I spotted several airliners you were flying with during our travel to Andalucía?

Quoting akhmad (Reply 14):By the way, do you know that I spotted several airliners you were flying with during our travel to Andalucía?

I did, and I will comment as soon as I can. All of you put in some much effort in your reports, it's amazing. I notice myself how I am really behind arrears with commenting. I wish I had as much time for my hobbies as I used to have. But times change...